August 9, 2018, Filed Under: 2018, austin, fun, ut austinWrapping Up Summer 2018 A glimpse into the BME Summer Scholars’ 10 weeks in Austin, Texas! The group celebrates the end of their poster presentations! Everyone had a lot of fun paddle boarding thanks to the BME CUReS coordinators! The group enjoys socializing over some barbeque at Freedman’s. Donavon and Fawaz are all smiles as they wait for the bus. The guys really enjoy exploring along the creek that flows through campus. Everyone’s always excited to dig in at the Friday seminar lunches! Gaby and Donavon love getting around on the new Lime electric scooters. After a long day in lab, Gaby treats herself to a frozen banana at one of the many food trucks around campus. To celebrate the fourth of July, the group joins up with another REU and grills some hamburgers and hot dogs outside of San Jacinto residence hall. After grilling, the group lights some sparklers and watches fireworks from the top of the parking garage. Donavon, Dominique, Gaby, and Fawaz thought the graffiti park was tons of fun! We got a lot of great pictures! Graffiti park! Fawaz, Dominique, and Gaby make sure to get a picture in front of the cool murals on Guadalupe. When we saw the tower lit up at night we just had to get a group pic! Together with another REU, the group relaxes after lab with a puzzle. -Dominique WuDunn, Princeton University
July 9, 2018, Filed Under: 2018, austin, funFourth of July! Unlike the rest of my fellow Scholars, I am lucky to be spending the summer in my own hometown, the beautiful Austin, Texas. I haven’t had to adjust to living in a new city or being away from home for the past month. I’ve really enjoyed immersing myself in research on campus during the weekdays, and spending time with my family on the weekends. This year, the fourth of July fell in the middle of the week, and it turned out to be quite the rainy day! I spent the day relaxing at home, before heading out in the evening for a fireworks show. Thankfully, the show didn’t get rained out and we avoided getting drenched. At the end of the night, my parents dropped me back on campus. It was a great, laid back way to spend the day with family and friends. I can’t believe the summer is nearly halfway over! Storm clouds loom in the sky on the way to Bee Cave, a small out just outside of Austin. Rohini standing by the outdoor stage at the Hill Country Galleria. The mayor of Bee Cave and his grandson count down for the start of the fireworks. Happy Fourth of July! – Rohini Kumar, Rice University
June 12, 2018, Filed Under: 2018, austinFirst Social Events and Adventures in Austin The first week of the program held many beginnings – the start of our research experience, meeting new people and exploring a new environment. I’ve never been to Austin – I didn’t think I would like the heat and humidity, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Austin reminds me a lot of Central America, mainly the weather, and it brings good memories to the forefront – inspires me to get out of my comfort zone. View of the Littlefield Fountain in front of the Main Building Tower It takes me a while to open up to new people, I like to be on my own, exploring and walking around campus, getting a sense of what is around me. The good thing is that everyone is so nice, it makes it easier to work up the nerve to talk and we all have at least one thing in common – all of us are Summer Scholars We bonded over playing ultimate football – think ultimate frisbee but with a football – in 100 degree weather and we all made it through boot camp with introductions to Wet Lab, Microscopy and MATLAB. State of Texas Capitol I like to think as the days go by, we’ll learn new things about each other and in the process learn about what we want to do with our growing research experience. Darryl K. Royal Texas Football Stadium -Alex Zaharan, University of Pittsburg
